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I had a discussion with someone about outbuildings.
We have always placed a disconnect in any seperate building/structure. It makes sense and we have always done it so we thought that the code book would say that.
Well we looked for a reference saying that you have to have a disconnect and did not find one.
The only thing that we found was in section 14 which talked about overcurrent protection for the circuits.

Now I am not talking about factory built relocatable or non relocatable structures here. For those I know you need one as per the code.

I was wondering if anyone here knows if it is required to have a means of disconnection at all buildings/structures. No meter, just fed off another building underground.

Would a disconnect be required in the storage shed in the example below?

Say you construct a storage shed in your backyard and you run one circuit from your house service in an underground conduit. The circuit that is run is for 2 receptacles and 1 light.The wire is properly sized and is protected by a properly sized breaker where it is fed from. It enters the shed and goes to a J box and powers the receptacles and light.

If it is required could you please give a reference.

This is not a how to question. I am just trying to find a reference for something that we have been doing for alongtime. It makes sense because if the shed was 100' away and you needed to turn off the power you could do it right away. This example is for a shed but my question is in regard to all seperate structures.


Thanks
I don’t have a code book here in front of me, but the answer must be no. I think however this is where the code indicates the minimum requirements and in reality we do something different.

In a shed/garage we likely would be putting in some sort of sub panel to divide out the circuits thus needing or using a main disconnect of one type or another. Having said that, I don’t believe there is anything stopping you from running several circuits to the shed and using them either. The hassle is of course if the breaker trips you need to run all the way back to the house.

Cheers


[This message has been edited by Navyguy (edited 03-08-2006).]
I could be wrong, but I do not think its required either... I read somewhere that if 2 or more circuits are present in said building you must have some sort of a main disconnect for that building... If its only one circuit then I do not think you need one, and I have yet to see a storage shed / garage / outbuilding fed by a single circuit with a main disconnect...

A.D

[This message has been edited by Rewired (edited 03-19-2006).]
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